Salome Schillack (00:00):

Hello, and welcome to episode number 156 of The Shine Show. Today's episode is called Three Design Trends The Algorithm Loves with Jacqui Naunton. Jacqui is a graphic designer, turned online design coach for small business owners at White Deer Graphic Design. She has helped hundreds of passionate business owners take charge by giving them the skills and confidence they need to create their own incredible visual brand and graphics. She's helped her clients sell out workshops, gain followers and book out their businesses.

Salome Schillack (00:38):

Jacqui is the host of the podcast Design Hacks for DIYers, where she shares how to create good design in business so that you can attract clients and build the success you dream of. Jacqui's a mum, a cheesecake lover, and a Canva enthusiast. And I am one of Jacqui's biggest fans, because not only can this girl design, she can also teach design really well. She has helped us in our business make some changes and improvements to the way that we were designing ads. So Jacqui really knows what she's talking about. So without any further ado, let's play the interview with Jacqui Naunton.

Salome Schillack (01:24):

Giving up your time and freedom to make money is so 2009. Hi, I'm your host Salome Schillack and I help online course creators launch, grow and scale their businesses with Facebook and Instagram ads so that they can make more money and have an even bigger impact in the world. If you are ready to be inspired to dream bigger, launch sooner and grow your online business faster, then tune in because you are ready to shine and this is The Shine Show.

Salome Schillack (01:58):

Jacqui, thank you so much for joining me on The Shine Show today.

Jacqui Naunton (02:02):

Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to chat with you.

Salome Schillack (02:05):

Yeah. I'm happy for you to share with the listeners all of your design magic, because you've shared so much with me and I have learned so much from you. My design skills is a little bit like my interior design skills as well. I know a pretty thing when I see it, but I [inaudible 00:02:25] for the life of me not create it. So let's just start by telling everyone what your magic is. What do you do?

Jacqui Naunton (02:31):

So I am a graphic designer, but I'm probably a lot more than that, and a lot different to that. When people ask me down the street, I'm like, "Oh, I'm graphic designer." Because it just gets too complicated, but in essence, what I do now is I used to be just a graphic designer, but I transitioned my business into teaching business owners how they can do their own graphics themselves because I was just finding so many... I was working with some incredible clients and they were amazing. I was working with a lot of women in online business, that was my niche and I loved it, but I was seeing on my Instagram mainly so many people just trying to make their own graphics and really not succeeding very well. And as a designer, I was like, "Mm, design is so important and you are just missing so many benefits of this."

Jacqui Naunton (03:09):

So I was like, "Okay, these guys either they can't afford me, or they actually enjoy making their own graphics, they love that control, they love that freedom. And so they don't want to hire me, so how can I fill in the gap here? How can I bridge the gap is probably the word, and be the kind of person that will help these people." So I transitioned to sort of just doing graphics for business owners and to teaching them how they can make their own. And that was a really fun transition. And it's been so fulfilling because it's amazing, just helping a business owner be like, "Oh, I can actually make things that look pretty. And actually don't take me forever and actually work and communicate." And it's just, it's been so rewarding and so enjoyable and so much fun. So that's what I do now.

Salome Schillack (03:49):

That's fantastic. And you have your own online course that teaches people how to do this?

Jacqui Naunton (03:53):

Yeah. I have a course called DIY Design My Biz and that's pretty much yeah the [inaudible 00:03:58] start to finish of teaching everything you need to know around designing your own graphics, designing your own logo, making everything you need for your business, so it's a lot of fun.

Salome Schillack (04:04):

That's amazing. There's so much I want to unpack here. First thing I want to ask you is, can you teach someone how to do this?

Jacqui Naunton (04:14):

That's a really good question. And I'm going to be honest with you. There are some people that can't, but I'm finding it's a very small percentage. I would say almost every single person that's on my program has been able to be just fine. Some people, either it comes super easy and some people it's a little bit harder, like you mentioned before, interior design, I am the same as you if I can't. You'd think as a designer, I'd be kind of confident in interior design, but I am not, 3D spaces confuse my brain. And I was watching an interior design webinar, then I was like, "Oh, okay. Okay." And I feel like just once you kind of get a couple of tools, once you get someone stepping you through, once you get feedback and help, my course isn't just, you can do it through your own pace, but you get a group to be able... Facebook group, you can post your designs and I'll give you feedback.

Jacqui Naunton (04:58):

And I feel like when you kind of combine those, all those different areas of learning the foundations, I don't teach people Canva templates. I teach them how to actually think like a designer. Like how can I communicate? How can I use hierarchy or contrast or all of these different fancy words that scare people initially to actually use my brain to design rather than just feeling like I've got to somehow magically make something that looks pretty. Pretty just feels so overwhelming and really personal about what is pretty, but design can be really much more structured and less fussy, and just okay, if I know these things I can get in and do it and most people can actually do it.

Salome Schillack (05:38):

Okay. Great. Well, so does Canva help or does it actually hinder?

Jacqui Naunton (05:44):

I love Canva. So I do teach in Canva. I just don't... most people just assume that as someone who teaches Canva, I have a template [inaudible 00:05:52] and I give you all these templates and I don't do that yet. I might one day, but I don't do it because you can... I think it's important to... when we start with a template of someone else's and we don't know what our actual branding is, we mash up our brand and we confuse our audience and we lose so much recognizability and consistency and professionalism in our design.

Jacqui Naunton (06:12):

So Canva is amazing. I just recommend starting with your branding first, inside Canva is fine, and then working from templates. And usually people when they open Canva, they just go straight to a template, so I always recommend let's stop, let's start slow to go fast and let's work out what your actual brand even is. What is your colors? What are your fonts? What are your branding elements? What kind of vibe do you want your business to have and then work from there. And so Canva is a hundred percent an incredible tool. And I use it actually, to be honest, 90% of the graphics I make for my own business is all Canva.

Salome Schillack (06:45):

Canva is so easy, but when you're a little bit like me, I could mess up the base Canva template.

Jacqui Naunton (06:52):

It is possible. I have seen it done. I'm like, "Oh, [inaudible 00:06:54]-"

Salome Schillack (06:54):

I can mess up with this. I'm so glad I have people doing this for me now, because if you scroll back on my Instagram, it's pretty sad. It's pretty sad, back when I did it.

Jacqui Naunton (07:02):

We all start somewhere.

Salome Schillack (07:04):

So let's talk about, I mean, design is so much more than just making it pretty. And there certainly are a lot of people who are very talented at making things pretty, but what does it mean to design... what do you mean when you say design a brand? For anyone who doesn't know what that even means, but they just look at their Instagram and they go, "Argh! Why does mine not look like all the other girls?"

Jacqui Naunton (07:28):

Yeah. So the first thing to remember is that design isn't just about prettiness. Design is about communication. That is the whole point of design is to communicate. What are you communicating in your business? Are you communicating what kind of people that you work with? If you looked at... if I say to you right now, picture the brand of a day spa, what colors are popping into your head right now?

Salome Schillack (07:47):

White and blues and greens and earthy tones.

Jacqui Naunton (07:50):

Exactly. It would not be a bright red, it would not be a flory green, it would not be... we have these assumptions in our mind about what things are and we see them. And so as business owners, we need to lean into that. And we need to see that when people come across, say our Instagram or our website or our landing page, what are they assuming about our brand? What are they assuming about the kind of person we are? What are they assuming about the kind of business that we are? What are they assuming about the kind of people that we serve? What are they assuming about our price point? All of these things people are making snap judgments about when they see our business.

Jacqui Naunton (08:20):

And so for me, I have lots of really bright colors. My branding is blue and pink and orange. And so when you see my branding, you don't expect to have a really stuffy corporate person that you're working with. You'll expect someone like me, that's like, yeah whether we try this and whether this be fun and [inaudible 00:08:34] talking fast and all these fun things, because I believe business should be fun. And I portrayed that through my branding. And so there's ways that we can use. We can... when we stop and actually think about our business, when we stop and think about... I teach a method, a way of thinking about our branding called The WOW Model.

Jacqui Naunton (08:51):

And it kind of covers three key circles. The first one being your whos. Obviously, who is your target audience? Who do you want to work with? Who do you want to attract? And then that circle overlaps in kind of a Venn diagram kind of thing, with two other circles, there's a who, but there's also your why. And that can be about what do you stand for? What do you want people to feel when they work with you? What is your price point? All these value based things. Who are your competitors? And how can you make sure you... we don't want to be cliche in the way that we look, we don't look like everyone else in our industry. We do want to make sure that we are similarish, that it makes sense like the day spa kind of example we gave before.

Jacqui Naunton (09:25):

And so you've got your who circle then you've got your why circle. And then you've also got your originality circle, which is you. As so many online business owners, we are a part of our business. If you were to remove Jacqui from White Deer, my business, you wouldn't have White Deer anymore, but the business is me, we're one and the same. And so not forgetting who you are and how can you... what do you love? What colors light you up? What represents you? And I think when we overlap those three circles of your target audience, your why and your originality, then we get this perfect combination of what our brand should actually be, [inaudible 00:09:56] because the colors that you love, aren't going to be all the colors your target audience loves, but somewhere there's going to be an overlap. Somewhere there will be an overlap.

Salome Schillack (10:02):

[inaudible 00:10:02], I love that.

Jacqui Naunton (10:03):

And so when we think of those things through, it becomes a lot less scary and a lot less messy. And what I encourage people to do is just do, this is my motto, pick and stick, pick a set of colors, pick a set of fonts, pick a set, pick a way of doing your graphics and stick with that. And if you've thought through those things really well of thinking about your who and your why, and originality, it's going to come so much more clearer. And when you look at people that have Instagram Feeds that you're just in love with, often is a beautiful consistency that's there. They're not just trying a different color each week. They're not trying a different font each week. They're not trying a different style each week. They've got that consistency. And it's that consistency provides so much professionalism or reliability. So just working through those three circles, picking something, sticking with it. And that's most of the magic, to be honest.

Salome Schillack (10:50):

I love that so much because I can see that where I've gone wrong with branding in the past was where I either branded it just for myself.

Jacqui Naunton (10:59):

Yeah.

Salome Schillack (10:59):

Because I didn't want to get bored with it, or I didn't want to get tired of it, or then where I branded it just for my client, and then I ended up feeling like it's not really authentically me, it doesn't represent me and both ways. And I love that you say there's sort of this magical overlap in the middle. That makes so much sense to me. And what if we do get bored with our own brands? Do we just, like you say, stick with it, because I get bored with things within five minutes, I've rebranded seven times. What do we do when we get bored? Do we just stick with it? Or... help me.

Jacqui Naunton (11:36):

Hey look, you're definitely not alone. I've had this conversation many a time with many business owners, and you have to ask yourself a couple of questions. Rebranding is definitely a thing that needs to happen at some stage in your business usually. I'm talking a lot about in my Instagram right now, to people around the idea of the... if you are four or five years into a business and your business is now actually doing really well, the chances that your initial brand that you first started with, whether you DIYed it or whether you had a designer do it, the chances that, that actually still is the right brand for your business is actually quite slim because your business has probably evolved so much. You're probably serving a higher paying client, you're probably doing a lot different things in your business and you've probably evolved. And so it's okay to evolve your brand, but it's not okay to evolve your brand because you're bored. I think that's [inaudible 00:12:19]-

Salome Schillack (12:19):

Hmm. I like that.

Jacqui Naunton (12:20):

... a huge reason for undermining your recognizability. When people are scrolling their Instagram, if you are scrolling your Instagram, you are going to... it feels like someone you're following that you really, really connect with. You're going to want to stop and read their posts, but if they was always posting purple posts and all of a sudden they posted [inaudible 00:12:39] yellow, you're probably just going to scroll past because you don't recognize it's them. And so we need to make sure that we're really leaning into that recognizability because that's one of the things that's going to set us apart from the rest of the rest. Our feeds, our internet, our emails, they're so saturated. And so if we are changing our brand up all the time, we are losing that recognizability. You don't see... Coke has had that same red for forever. They're not getting rid of that.

Salome Schillack (13:04):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (13:05):

No reason at all. Cadbury has had that same purple. There's things that we can do to I guess, allow us having... I was coaching someone this morning just on how they can still feel inspired by their branding, but also lean into that consistency because we don't... I guess I just want to say don't change things for the sake of changing things, because you're bored.

Salome Schillack (13:23):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (13:24):

Because that'll undermine you, but if you aren't feeling inspired and you're not showing up because of that, then think about, are there some ways maybe I can just update a color? Maybe I can just update a couple of elements if I need to, not just because you're bored, but because you might need to, because that's not serving you anymore.

Salome Schillack (13:39):

So launch Vanilla Coke or Cherry Coke, or-

Jacqui Naunton (13:43):

Exactly.

Salome Schillack (13:45):

[inaudible 00:13:45] Cadburys with Popping Candy.

Jacqui Naunton (13:47):

[inaudible 00:13:47] that all still has the elements of purple and the same [inaudible 00:13:49] so...

Salome Schillack (13:49):

Yeah. That makes so much sense. And what about... most of my listeners, we all start on social media. We all start because we have a phone in our pockets and we can just hit go live or we could post a few things on social media and start a business that way. And that's the beauty of what we do is we all have this gift in our heads and in our hearts that we want to share with the world and we get to do that with social media. So how do we translate branding into social media, with videos and with images, and when you're... if you have photos being taken, because you are not the photographer, you're the designer, but somewhere in there, these two things need to meet, and how does a business owner, when you go and talk to a photographer and you have your br... how do you bridge that gap?

Jacqui Naunton (14:38):

Yeah. That's a really great question. So there's no right or wrong answer with this. One of my clients has quite a differing view on this to me, but I think the way... the way I think that it works best is one, if you're going to get photos taken, know your branding colors before you get those taken, know your brand vibe. If you've got a brand vibe that's really dark and moody, then don't go take photos in a well lit room, that's really fun and chirpy. It doesn't make sense. And then the same way, if you've got a really light and chirpy brand, don't go taking photos in a subway tunnel. They can both be great photos, but they're not your brand. And so working out what your brand is first is really important, or if you like [inaudible 00:15:15], if you want to know a secret, I actually got my first branding colors from a photo shoot. I just went in and took the photos [inaudible 00:15:20]-

Salome Schillack (15:20):

I like that.

Jacqui Naunton (15:23):

... branding colors because I hadn't solidified my brand yet. And thankfully it worked out for me, but I don't recommend doing it that backwards way unless you already have your photos-

Salome Schillack (15:28):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (15:30):

[inaudible 00:15:30] actually probably create your brand from those. But in essence, if you are either wearing a hint of your branding colors or at least it's in the background or like today I took some photos of my brand. I was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, just something that's not too... if your branding is, if we go back to the day spa, if they could take photos in white shirts and gray shirts and all those kinds of things, even if white wasn't technically in their branding, but they wouldn't go taking photos in dark red because that's going clash with their brand-

Salome Schillack (16:00):

Clash, yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (16:00):

I guess, the biggest [inaudible 00:16:02] just making sure that whatever you get for your branding photos doesn't clash with your brand. It can be... it doesn't have to be identical, but that it supports it makes designing so much easier. And then when you're posting that to your Instagram, whether you choose to just post that photo straight as it is, or you can brand it a little bit. In one of the workshops I ran recently, I encouraged people to find what's called... what I call branding elements. So your brand isn't just your colors and your fonts. Your brand is more than that. For me, I have little paint strokes, and I have little doodles of little scribbles and stuff. And those are two of my branding elements. And I could post a photo, but then put a little paint stroke in the corner or put a little doodle in the corner, or add in a little bit of my color as a box in the background somewhere.

Jacqui Naunton (16:45):

How can you just add a little bit of a hint of your brand to your photos? You don't have to do it all the time, just enough that it really does that, continues to increase that recognizability, helps people to be like, "Oh, that's something Jacqui's doing." Thankfully, our faces are really recognizable. So if you're building a personal brand, then just posting a picture of yourself is going to help that recognizability, but adding in a couple of those branding elements can never hurt because it just continues to reinforce your look and your brand and sets that up as something that's recognizable and trustworthy. And so when they see a post that doesn't have your face on it, they still recognize it.

Salome Schillack (17:18):

I love that, because I was... my next question was going to be, what about the casual at home, kind of the impromptu, but having those little touches that kind of ties it in, right, because you don't want it to always look perfect sometimes, but it can be imperfect and still branded, right?

Jacqui Naunton (17:35):

Yeah. The other day I did a post. It was of me, it was a picture my sister-in-law took of me on a train at a farm with my baby. And that's not a professional photo, it was just me. And so I chucked that through, I recommend using an editing program called Lightroom, which is just a free app on your phone. It's an Adobe program, and you can just edit things that look quite clean and professional. And then I just popped that on the background, I popped that on a peach background and I added in my paint stroke and that was it.

Salome Schillack (17:59):

Ah, cool. That's so nice.

Jacqui Naunton (18:00):

It was just not that special. Yeah.

Salome Schillack (18:02):

Yeah. Oh, that's nice. And it just takes five minutes to do it on your phone.

Jacqui Naunton (18:06):

Yeah. Exactly.

Salome Schillack (18:07):

Oh, that's so nice. Okay, let's wander a little bit away from social media, because I feel like we've talked a lot about design and branding and making it look pretty on social media. What other things do you have to keep in mind when you're building a design, when you're branding and designing? One of the things that I'm thinking of for example is, how do you choose a sales page template? Is there different things like that? And then how do you get your brand onto that template? Talk me through a little bit of that.

Jacqui Naunton (18:42):

Yeah. So the great thing is once you've actually done that work at the start of naming out your colors and your branding and your fonts and also those elements, those are so, so helpful because you can imagine that when you get to designing your sales page, in terms of the template, I just recommend picking something that's going to support the message that you're sharing, so if you've maybe outlined what you want to share in a Google document, and then you're like, "Okay, I need to put this into a sales page." If you see a sales page, it's got a similar layout to what you're doing, just use that, there's no overthinking the actual design of it in terms of... although if you've got a really minimal brand, don't go choosing a really funky, heaps of clutter everywhere brand, but...

Jacqui Naunton (19:19):

So thinking about those things and trying to make sure they align, but then once you've... you can pretty much make any templates through your branding, I know if you are clear on what your brand is.

Salome Schillack (19:28):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (19:29):

So just going in, changing all of the colors, don't, getting caught up. The biggest thing about especially working with templates, for example, is not getting caught up in the pretty things they already have. Say for example, you have a Canva template or a sales page template, and it's got a cool thin border and a really fancy font and this really cool purple color and you're like, "Oh, that looks amazing. I'll just change the text." No, it's not your brand, you're not existing to look pretty. There's plenty of pretty stuff in the world. You need to look like your brand. And so making sure that you... I teach my students to just strip the template back to its bare-bones, so that you can then flesh it back out again with your brand. Delete everything that's not necessary. And then flesh it back out with your brand. So adding in your colors, adding your fonts.

Jacqui Naunton (20:12):

Adding in, say for example, when I do a sales page, I might have a picture of me that's cut out but I don't just do that. I put my little paint stroke behind it, or I put my little doodle next to me, just a little something that just keeps on adding in my brand elements to keep it being that recognizable, recognizability [inaudible 00:20:29] sentence, but building that out and just always adding in your stuff back in, just so, so helps because you imagine if you, say are promoting something on Facebook ads or your Instagram and you direct people to your landing page or your sales page, if that doesn't look the same, if that doesn't have that consistency, then people are going to be confused and they're going to be like, "Did I even hit the right sales page? Is this the right [inaudible 00:20:49]?"

Salome Schillack (20:49):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (20:50):

No. We want people to feel so supported, so secure and just like things make sense. They shouldn't be thinking at all about your branding. It should just be there. And subconsciously they're taking it all in. So making sure that when you're doing a post, that it aligns... an Instagram post and then there's a journey. They click on your Instagram post and they click on the link in the bio and they go through to your landing page and they go through to your thank you page and they go through to the emails and it's all consistent. The font's the same, you haven't just chosen the pretty font that was on the template, you've changed it to your font. You haven't just chosen the pretty color, you've changed it to your color. So always just bringing it back to your own brand. That's where the magic is.

Salome Schillack (21:23):

Oh, that's fantastic. That's so good. So tell me all the elements of a brand. What are all the things that people need to think about? You've mentioned, colors and fonts, but what are all the things that we need to keep consistent?

Jacqui Naunton (21:37):

Yeah. So first things first, is your logo. So I recommend having a logo, that's not just one logo. A logo is often made up of an icon and text. So having an icon that works really great by itself, just for really small uses, like down the bottom of an Instagram post or in the little icon that's on the top of a web browser. All those little things. And then having that, say your logo is a square, having a version that's horizontal, having a version that might be more vertical, so you can use it in different areas and it still works, so and having a version that works in white and black and in color. So doing all those [inaudible 00:22:12]-

Salome Schillack (22:12):

[inaudible 00:22:12].

Jacqui Naunton (22:12):

Yeah, it just makes... people just, they just [inaudible 00:22:15] up a logo on Canva, but then they realize they can't actually use it most of the time they want to use it because they're using it on a color background, but the logo is [inaudible 00:22:21] in color and now it just clashes when they put it together. So making sure you think through all of those variations of the logo is the first step, one of the first step, one of the steps.

Jacqui Naunton (22:29):

And then having your color palette. So you can have two colors or you can have 10 colors. There's no hard and fast rule, but I often recommend having a range of colors in terms of, say for example, my brand is blue purple and peach, and I have a light blue and a dark blue and a lighter blue and a dark purple and a light purple and a medium purple because so many times I get to design a graphic, then I'm like, "Oh, that purple's now clashing with that peach." But if I make that the light version of the peach on the dark version of the purple, it actually works. So having-

Salome Schillack (22:57):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (22:58):

[inaudible 00:22:58] you've got a blue and green color palette, having your main blue and green, but also having a lighter and darker version of those can be so, so helpful to actually building out your graphics every day.

Salome Schillack (23:07):

That was such a huge mistake I made at one point. I just chose five really bright colors.

Jacqui Naunton (23:12):

Yeah.

Salome Schillack (23:13):

When I started and I had these five colors and everything ended up looking like Krusty the Clown, because it's just all five bright colors and there's nothing soft and all five of them don't always go together, it's like people are shouting at you all the time. That's such a good tip.

Jacqui Naunton (23:27):

Yep. And just a random tip while I think of it. If you've got lots of color in your branding, choosing an overall theme for each graphic, so I do a purple themed graphic or a blue themed graphic and occasionally it'll have a reference of a different color, but not feeling like you have to use all of your colors in all your graphics because that [inaudible 00:23:42] work, unless you've literally got a rainbow kind of style.

Salome Schillack (23:46):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (23:46):

[inaudible 00:23:46] your colors, so make sure you pick those and make sure they're versatile. And I really recommend for all of these things is using them... make a test graphic and see if it works, don't just pick a color palette and it looks good just looking at it as a color palette, but try to use the color palette in person and try to make a social media graphic and see if it actually works because usually we'll have to tweak the colors a tiny bit.

Salome Schillack (24:06):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (24:07):

And then you've got your fonts. So don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't pick more than three fonts unless you're really, really great at working with fonts. It's too hard when we pick too many fonts, they all... every single font has its own, what we call a font voice, it's saying something. A cursive font is saying, relaxed or feminine or whatever. And a bold font is saying, strong and powerful. All these fonts are saying different things. If you pick too many fonts, we're subconsciously giving out too many messages and people are going to get confused and they're just going to fight.

Jacqui Naunton (24:37):

And so picking two or three fonts, you can even pick one font. You can actually pick one font and for your headings, use it in all caps, for your body text using it in normal case. And for your subheading text, using it with spaces between the letters. You could literally do a whole brand with one font. There's no need to overdo things there. Speaking of three different fonts, I usually recommend a plain body font, a really clear, but beautiful heading font. And then maybe a cursive accent font that you can use occasionally as well.

Salome Schillack (25:05):

I was going to ask you about that because it would be funny if you have all flowy and beautiful, you kind of need that balance between, it's almost like a masculine and feminine, you need a balance between the fonts, there's fonts that compliment each other and fonts that don't. So there's art in knowing what fonts to put together?

Jacqui Naunton (25:26):

Yeah, there is. And it's a matter of, you can either test it or if you join my program, I can help you find that out, or you can even just [inaudible 00:25:34] things like font pairings, and just see what other people have done and put together. And if you don't like those exact versions, be like, "Oh, I like that kind of font, but I don't like that exact cursive fonts. I'm going to pick a slightly different one." But not varying too much because the font pairing already looks good [inaudible 00:25:48].

Salome Schillack (25:48):

Yeah. Love it.

Jacqui Naunton (25:50):

And then the last thing, part of a brand is your elements, like I talked about before is picking out, is your brand going to be gold sparkles and really [inaudible 00:25:58] gold lines? Or is it going to be really bold stock photos with rainbows? Or is it going to be a sketchy kind of outlines? Or is it going to be paint strokes? Or is it going to be tape? Is it going to be Polaroids? Thinking about what is my design style and sticking with that. If you're not sure at all where to start with that, just go to Pinterest and just search just a phrase like graphic design or a word that represents your business, feminine graphic design or [inaudible 00:26:24] graphic design, whatever it is, or even social media templates comes up with some great examples as well.

Salome Schillack (26:29):

Yeah.

Jacqui Naunton (26:29):

And scroll through and begin to see what's there. See what's jumping out at you, see what it is inspiring you, see what suits your three circles, The WOW Model that I've spoken about before. And begin to kind of notice what's there and create your own. And don't try to culminate too many styles into one. You be like, "Oh, I love the [inaudible 00:26:48] look, but I also like the rainbows and I also like gold sparkles." Pick one of them and stick with that and try not to get bored of it because your audience isn't getting bored of it, it's just promoting that recognizability.

Salome Schillack (26:58):

What about fashions? Because there was a... at one point I wanted to put a rose gold stripe on everything because rose gold was everywhere and it's so pretty. How do we avoid the temptation of going with whatever's in fashion at the moment but also stay current?

Jacqui Naunton (27:17):

Yep. And it's tricky. Some designers will tell you don't do anything that's along with the trends, just do your whole only unique thing, but I honestly think that people... things are trending because people like it. So it's okay to lean into those, but I would lean into them and then stay with them. So if you are going to do the rose gold line, do that for a few years. Don't just change it up every time there's a new trend, stick with something. And so that's where our brand can kind of evolve. Say for example, I've got my certain colors and my certain fonts, but say for example, say paint strokes went totally out of fashion. I would just update couple of my elements, but I've stuck with the paint strokes for five years.

Jacqui Naunton (27:55):

And then maybe in the next five years I would let myself update to something slightly different, but not just updating things for the sake of it because it's pretty, focusing on that one idea, that one trend that I'm liking that's relevant to my audience, that I know my audience loves, that I really love, that's supporting my why, and running with that. Putting the trends through the filter of what's going to [inaudible 00:28:17] your brand.

Salome Schillack (28:17):

I love that. I want to jump a little bit to something different and talk about some design for Facebook ads.

Jacqui Naunton (28:25):

Mm.

Salome Schillack (28:25):

You and I have spent days, feels like days talking about design for Facebook ads. So tell me a little, there's such... for me as an advertiser, I am always more interested in, is it going to stop the scroll? Is it going to convert? Far more than does it look pretty? How do you strike a balance in designing images and video because video is now... when I say video, I mean not necessarily you talking, camera facing, but does... you know these little videos that we have short videos that's got little sparkles on it or the words are flying in and out. I mean, those are working really well, but what are some tips that you have for the listeners to create images that really capture their ideal customer's attention, gets them to pay attention and gets them to convert to that lead magnet or gets them to sign up for that webinar or challenge or workshop that they have, or get them to buy the actual course that they're selling. What's some hot tips that you have for us for designing ad images.

Jacqui Naunton (29:40):

So it'd be nice if there was just some little pill that would just solve all of this, but unfortunately there's not. So there will have to be that experimentation and seeing what's working for your audience, but one thing is to first think about what am I communicating in this ad? Obviously, you know but do you actually know? When you are actually designing the graphic, don't get caught up in that prettiness, be like, "If I want someone to download this lead magnet, how am I going to get them to do that?" So thinking through your messaging in terms of, what's the key text? What text is my audience going to see that's going to be like, "Oh, I need this." And it's not going to be... for some people, it may be the word free, because some people are just scrolling into it, looking for free things.

Jacqui Naunton (30:22):

For other people, it might be the word like, solve all your life's problems and that might capture their attention. And so thinking about what's the wording that's going to be most attractive to my audience and then making sure that wording is just so darn clear so that it's nice and big, it's nice and clear, it's not hidden in some cursive font that no one can read, it's not hidden in a font that's too thin. It's not hidden in a font that's white text on a bright yellow background. Making sure that first and foremost, your text is really, really clear. And whether you choose to do the whole [inaudible 00:30:53] of text like free lead magnet, download now, name of the lead magnet, picture of the lead magnet and that whole [inaudible 00:31:01] or whether you just choose to do one punchy piece of text or a punchy picture of your lead magnet, and whatever that is just making sure you're thinking through, what do I want to communicate and what's going to stand out to my audience? And really prioritizing that.

Jacqui Naunton (31:11):

And making sure that when you do that, not all of it... not all text is created equal. So what I mean by that is if you have an image with five sections of text on it, say like lead magnet, free, the name of the lead magnet, maybe your business name, all these different things. Well, not all those pieces of text should be the same size. There needs to be some, what we call hierarchy. And that's kind of taking your audience on a visual journey of, what do you want to jump out at them first? And then what do you want them to look at next? And then what do you want them to look at next?

Jacqui Naunton (31:42):

Not having all your texts the same size or the same boldness, but having that journey so that [inaudible 00:31:46] is going to actually work to convert them is the biggest piece of text because that's what's going to stop their scroll and then taking them on the journey through. This is a free lead magnet [inaudible 00:31:57]. This is a free PDF and you'll download it here and all that actual information that... don't... that's not going to capture their attention, but the thing that is you're making sure that's the biggest.

Salome Schillack (32:05):

I love that. So the big, bold benefit.

Jacqui Naunton (32:07):

Yes.

Salome Schillack (32:09):

Not the word download or the word... I see so many funny words that gets highlighted because you want them to take action, but actually it's about the benefit, right? What's in it for me.

Jacqui Naunton (32:21):

Exactly. That's what's going to capture their attention. And then just from a graphic perspective, one of the ads that performed really well for one of my clients, her branding is purple and tan. And she went and did a photo shoot with a bright yellow dress. And I said, "Nah, I'm annoyed that you did that." But it worked. It worked for her ads. The rest of the branding was purple and tan, but that her and the yellow dress just captured people's attention. And to be honest, it really contrasted well from the purple that we used as the base. So thinking about, and just from a image perspective, what's going to actually jump out? How can I use contrast? How can I use bright things? If bright things aren't your branding, don't use bright things, but thinking through how can I stay aligned with my branding, but also maybe tweak things a little bit, maybe break a couple of rules just so I can really stand out on the Facebook Feed or the Instagram Feed.

Salome Schillack (33:06):

Yeah. Yeah. And it seems like warm colors are still the go to. We've had clients where the bluer colors, the greener colors convert better than the warm colors, but nothing beats bright yellow, right?

Jacqui Naunton (33:18):

Apparently not. Apparently not a bright yellow dress.

Salome Schillack (33:22):

[inaudible 00:33:22]. That's so good. Okay, Jacqui, where can someone start if they want to learn how to design their own brand, because it's expensive hiring designers?

Jacqui Naunton (33:36):

It is expensive. It is expensive. There's a few different places you can start. If you just want to tackle things on your own, just stop and really sit down one day and work out those three circles, your who is your target audience? What is your why? What's your brand positioning? What do you want to charge for your business? And what is my originality? What lights me up. And so just thinking about those three circles, just journaling and doing some research, asking your audience what they love, working out what you love and finding that overlap. That's a really, really great place to start. And if you want some more help with those things, I have a heap of resources I can direct you towards. I've got a... if you just head to whitedeer.com.au/hangout, there's a heap of resources there you can just start with.

Jacqui Naunton (34:17):

And it's just less overwhelming to do those things, but in essence, the biggest key is just to stop and think about it, to stop and consider your branding, to stop and actually be like, "You know what? I have a business and I want it to succeed. And I'm going to actually put the time into thinking about it because when I do that, it just makes so much more sense to my audiences." And this world is crazy enough that we don't need things that don't make sense, and [inaudible 00:34:40] to one of them, we need people to see our branding like, "Ah, this makes sense. I want to connect. I know the steps, and the journey is clear. The wording is clear. Everything is just smooth." And create that experience for your audience and it'll make a huge difference.

Salome Schillack (34:54):

I love that. My next question was going to be, where can people learn more about you?

Jacqui Naunton (35:00):

Sorry.

Salome Schillack (35:00):

Tell us again.

Jacqui Naunton (35:01):

I'll say that again. So whitedeer, white, like the color white and the deer, the animal.com.au/hangout. And there'll be some resources there or you can explore the rest of my website or if you are an Instagram [inaudible 00:35:12] like myself, my handle is whitedeergd. And I love the old Gram. So please come follow me there and send me message, say that you found me on this podcast and I would love to have a chat with you and see how I can help you or see what you kind of are thinking about. What is your who? What is your originality? What is your why? And I've also got a podcast, if you're interested, it's called Design Hacks for DIYers and you can... I just got 20 minutes segments just to kind of give you lots of different [inaudible 00:35:39] ideas about your branding and your business and your designing.

Salome Schillack (35:41):

I love that. I love you. Thank you so much, Jacqui. Please go and check out Jacqui's free resources or her podcast, you will learn so much. You will not regret it, especially if you're like me and you can mess Canva up easily. Even Canva won't get you there and then you need some Jacqui in your life. Thank you so much, Jacqui.

Jacqui Naunton (36:03):

Thank you for having me. Bye.

Salome Schillack (36:05):

Bye.

Salome Schillack (36:06):

If you loved this episode, you are going to love being a member of The Launch Lounge. The Launch Lounge is a place where serious online course creators get to hang out, have fun and learn with and from each other. It is seriously the best place on the internet for online course creators who are ready to launch bigger, make more profits and scale their online courses businesses to five, six, and seven figures. And you can sign up for the wait list for The Launch Lounge by going to shineandsucceed.com/launch, if you're on the wait list, you'll be the first person to know when we're opening for enrollment again. That's shineandsucceed.com/launch to go to the wait list for The Launch Lounge. I'll see you next week.

Salome Schillack (37:04):

Thank you so much for listening. If you had fun, please come back next week and remember to hit that subscribe button, so you never miss a thing.